BLACK SABBATH’s Geezer Butler On Saturday’s Birmingham Gig – “We’ll Be Donating To The Help For Heroes Charity”

BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler has issued the following statement in regards to the band’s hometown return to the O2 Academy in Birmingham, England tomorrow, May 19th:

“Well, rehearsals are finally finished, and now for the nervous part, playing our hometown gig. Since it is a warm-up show, there will probably be a few glitches, but remember it’s all in a good cause, since we’ll be donating to the Help For Heroes charity, a fantastic charity that helps our troops who have been wounded in recent wars. No matter what your feelings about the wars are, these men and women willingly dedicate their lives for our defence and freedom. I hope the people who are making profits by re-selling the tickets to real fans find it in their hearts to do the right thing and donate at least some of their gains to the charity.

The members of Black Sabbath – guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler – have issued the following brief comment regarding drummer Bill Ward’s statement that he won’t be taking part in the reunion album or shows:

“We have decided not to make any detailed comment on Bill’s latest statement. There are two sides to every story. We have been working hard at rehearsals making excellent progress after Tony’s treatments and we have engaged a substitute drummer for the forthcoming shows. See you at Download.”

The three original members of Sabbath – Iommi, Osbourne and Butler – are currently working on their first studio album in thirty three years and first since 1978’s Never Say Die! The band will soon announce the drummer for their hometown return to the O2 Academy on May 19th, UK’s Download Festival on June 10th and the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago which runs from August 3rd-5th.

One comment on “BLACK SABBATH’s Geezer Butler On Saturday’s Birmingham Gig – “We’ll Be Donating To The Help For Heroes Charity””

Sabbath management: Removing Bill Ward’s image from old photos on the band’s website just looks bad. Take a new band group photo and be proud of the new lineup that’s going to be performing. Don’t hide from the fans. We lived with several different Sabbath lineups since Ozzy was fired. What’s the difference now?

In my opinion, the band (minus Bill Ward) should NOT tour as “Black Sabbath” out of respect for him and the fans. This isn’t a full Sabbath reunion as was with the case of the Ronnie James Dio fronted Sabbath (aka “Heaven and Hell”) did from 2007-2009.

I think that there were several mistakes that were made from the beginning that could have made this whole situation moot.

First, Sabbath’s management botched it by getting everyone together for a photo-op BEFORE they had signed, sealed and delivered contracts from each band member.

Second, if there were any problems with any member’s health or monetary issues, address them immediately. If they couldn’t be resolved, move on. Dragging it out made the whole thing worse.

Finally, Sabbath’s public relations poorly handled the situation by not communicating effectively with the fans and let it get out of hand. By the time they rebranded the tour as “Ozzy & Friends”, the damage had already been done.

C’mon guys! Let’s stop the bullshit and give the Sabbath fans what they want: ONE LAST HURRAH from the original lineup. Is that too much to ask?